Why I’m a NYC Maximum Republican My daughter just turned two, which means my husband and I have about three years to decide where to settle down. Once she starts elementary school, we want to give her consistency: one educational path, long-term friendships, roots. I want those roots to be here. I love New York City. I love living near my friends. I love walking and taking transit everywhere and not needing a car — I’m composing part of this essay by voice while walking to the gym. I love the people, the food, the way joy radiates through the whole city on the first warm day of spring. My daughter loves it too. Like a lot of toddlers, she is obsessed with construction vehicles, big trucks, and anything with wheels. Her favorite activity is something we call “go bus!” We take the first bus we see — any route, any direction. Adventures abound! We would love to stay, but I’m not sure we can. I wonder: can my family build a good life here? Two things stand between me and a yes. The thing I can’t buy here at any reasonable price If I moved to Phoenix to be near my in-laws, the state would give me roughly $10,000 of education funding and let me direct it toward whatever environment I believe is best for my child. That could be a standard public school. Or I could put the money toward a private school, a microschool, tutoring, online programs, curriculum materials — or some combination of all of them. I could enroll her at Great Hearts Academies, where my sister-in-law is an assistant headmaster, and she could get a classical liberal arts education. I could enroll her in Phoenix’s large and fast-growing microschool ecosystem. I could enroll her in @socraticexp, a private online school I’ve admired for years. In every one of those cases, her schooling would be free to us. If I moved to Tampa to be near my mom, I’d get a similar stipend. In New York City, my options collapse. I can hope for a seat at a charter school; unfortunately the number of seats is legally capped, and demand outpaces supply. Or I could hope that I have a good public school within reach, either by moving or luck, neither of which is what a parent wants to face when selecting a school. I wish New York had reliable, accessible, high-quality education. Safety is personal too I’ve been physically assaulted twice on the street in San Francisco. Friends of mine have had worse: one was held up at gunpoint while biking through San Francisco. I recently learned that a high school classmate had to get surgery after being attacked by a homeless man. In fact, one of the main reasons I moved to New York City from San Francisco was because I thought SF was too unsafe to raise a kid in. In my first years in NYC, I mostly felt safe walking the streets, even by myself late at night. Then a few months ago, someone shoved my husband on a subway platform. I was with him — so was our two year old daughter, sitting in her stroller. Families deserve to move through their own city without wondering whether the basic rules still apply. I believe in prison reform, genuinely and not as a hedge. I want to support people who were dealt a bad hand. I want them to gain skills and build thriving lives. But pardoning terrible disorder and violent crime doesn’t serve the perpetrators, the victims, or anyone else. I want to live in a city where, when I hear about a violent crime, I don’t expect to learn that the perpetrator had been arrested and released multiple times before. Why I’m changing my registration New York City is effectively a one-party city. Our citywide elections often don’t matter, because the real contest happened months earlier in the Democratic primary. In our last City Council races, 27% featured an unopposed Democrat — no Republican even bothered to run. By the time most voters reach the ballot box, primary voters have already chosen their representatives. That doesn’t mean there’s no disagreement in New York politics. There’s plenty. You can honestly model the New York City Democratic Party as two parties in a trench coat. Our current Council has 23 Democrats in the Progressive Caucus, 23 Democrats who aren’t — call them moderates — and 5 Republicans. The majority party is split almost perfectly between two conflicting ideologies. I’m a moderate. And rather than keep fighting inside a crowded party, I’m switching my registration to the under-utilized second party, and specifically joining a new faction of the New York Republican Party that shares my values: maximumnewyork.com/p/maximum… Mike Bloomberg used a similar tactic. He wanted to run for mayor, the Democratic field was crowded, the Republican nomination was easier to win — so he switched his party. He went on to win the general election 50 to 48 and serve three terms as one of the most popular mayors in the city’s history. He later re-registered as an independent, which fit his views better. Then in 2018, wanting to run for president, he went back to the Democratic Party, because he knew the national Republican Party didn’t share his values: “It’s impossible to conceive that I could run as a Republican,” he said. “Things like choice, so many of the issues, I’m just way away from where the Republican Party is today.” He treated party registration as a tool rather than an identity, and he evaluated the parties differently at the federal and local level. That’s exactly where I’ve landed. So I’m joining the Maximum Republicans because I believe in their vision for New York City. I like that they prioritize creating a safe and beautiful city where families can thrive. I like that quality education is important to them. I want to help candidates who share my values run for those uncontested seats. Many of those candidates might lose if they run on the Republican ticket. But why leave a race uncontested? A candidate is a platform — a way to put housing supply, school choice, a working grid, and public safety into the citywide conversation. And maybe, occasionally, a Maximum Republican candidate will win. When Bloomberg ran on the Republican line, Democrats outnumbered Republicans in this city roughly five to one, and plenty of Democrats voted for him anyway. People will look past a letter next to your name if they believe in your values. Somewhere in the last decade, good governance got abandoned, mostly because it’s boring. Political energy on both sides went to the culture war, which is almost definitionally polarizing — people have already sorted themselves into camps. I’m far more interested in the enormous territory where our goals overlap and competent government can produce better outcomes for everyone. What I’m not saying I’ve been a Democrat or Independent most of my life, and my views haven’t meaningfully changed recently. But parties are strategic coalitions, not personality tests. I can disagree with people in my party and still work with them on what matters. I can agree with people in the opposing party and still vote for them if they’re the better candidate. For the two major upcoming races in next Tuesday’s election, I’ll be voting for one Democrat (YIMBY queen Kathy Hochul) and one Republican (public safety queen Saritha Komatireddy). We can have nice things You can love the city and want it to be better. You can love the vibrant, swirling, chaos — and want firm rules. You can want a city that welcomes newcomers and gives families the support to stay. You can build a political coalition around the future you want. If this sounds like your politics, come talk to me. Invite me (or @danielgolliher) to speak. Come to an event. Write publicly about your own politics, including the parts where you think I’m wrong. The point was never to agree on everything. It’s to make a city — and a party — aimed in the right direction.